Civilization: Beyond Earth to Take Players to Alien Planets

2K Games revealed at PAX East a new entry into the Civilization franchise, Beyond Earth. Slated for a Fall 2014 release, the franchise breaks free of its historical roots and sends players into the future as mankind begins to establish colonies on other planets.

"Global events have destabilized the world leading to a collapse of modern society, a new world order and an uncertain future for humanity," reads the Beyond Earth info page. "As the human race struggles to recover, the re-developed nations focus their resources on deep space travel to chart a new beginning for mankind."

"Explore and colonize an alien planet, research new technologies, amass mighty armies, build incredible Wonders and shape the face of your new world," the info page continues. "As you embark on your journey you must make critical decisions. From your choice of sponsor and the make-up of your colony, to the ultimate path you choose for your civilization, every decision opens up new possibilities."

Gamers will establish their cultural identity by choosing one of eight different expedition sponsors, each with its own leader and unique gameplay benefits. Players will assemble their spacecraft, cargo and colonists through a series of choices that shapes the starting conditions on the new planet.

Once they arrive, players are faced with the dangers and benefits of a new planet including hazardous terrain, "mystical" resources, and hostile alien life forms. Players can build outposts, dig up ancient alien relics, develop flourishing cities, tame alien life forms, establish trade routes and more.

"To reflect progress forward into an uncertain future, technology advancement occurs through a series of nonlinear choices that affect the development of mankind," reads the info page. "The technology web is organized around three broad themes, each with a distinct victory condition."

This new Civilization chapter will support player-made mods, and multiplayer up to eight players who can compete for dominance of a new alien world. There will also be a quest system that will help guide players through a series of side-missions that will aid in resource collection, unit upgrades, and advancement through the game.

Interesting to see if this is story driven like Alpha Centauri was, or more like sandbox game ala Civ...To Icemunk... I always prefer more tactical one unit per hex than old "stack of doom". That was really boring... In civ5 system it requires more thinking and more complex tactical decision, but I can understand that it does not please everyone, but for strategy gamer the change in civ5 was a excellent one!

Actually, even before Alpha Centauri they had some Civ 2 extensions that brought the game to another planet. I think it was called Test of Time or something... IIRC the game played normally until you build a spaceship and then you continued after the ship landed.